On the Key

Electrical work continues.  The starter, alternator, courtesy light switches, voltage regulator and horn relay (shown) have been hooked up and/or installed.

I've been waiting for this adaptor for the last 3 weeks.  It connects a new Flaming River tilt wheel to our new wiring harness.  It comes complete with everything required including the Emergency Flasher.  Lectric Limited did a great job on this adapter, a far better solution than Flaming Rivers recommendation to cut and splice.

I am anxious to test the dash cluster but in order to connect the wires I had to fabricate these sliders.  The next photo shows the function. 

 The dash is temporarily installed with my fabricated rods attached. 

The rods are slid into the dash cluster screw holes.  This allows the cluster to be installed while allowing room to connect the wiring.  

I found the best way to get your hands behind the dash is to lay on your back with your feet stretching into the luggage compartment.  I could not have done it any other way.

So, what did I get accomplished?  Check out the video link below to find out:

On the Key

Minutes ago I published another posting on coil springs and carpet.  Be sure to check it out. 

Coil Springs and Carpet

You'll recall I thought I had the front coil springs sorted out a few weeks ago.  All was good until I bounced the suspension and heard the coils and shocks rubbing together.  I dismantled everything.

 The performance option for the front suspension requires F40/F41 coil springs.  These have 7 coils, 12" free length, .668 wire and are part number 3832518.  I have 4 sets of coils so lets figure out which one is the correct one.  The second coil has 7 full coils but heavier wire.  This one is for a big block and immediately gets eliminated.  

The first spring is the one I just removed from the car.  I looked at the sales description and it says, made with modern day steel with the ride height of the F40/41 suspension.  Look close and you'll see all this manufacturer did was cut one full coil off of a standard spring.  Wrong.  The end of this spring is no longer flat topped and that's the reason why it buckled under compression and interfered with the shock.  That one is going in the garbage.   The middle coil was also sold as a F40/F41 like spring.  Look close and you'll see it doesn't have 7 full coils.  It's another aftermarket want-a-be.  The one on the right is an actual F40/F41 coil spring.  The pair are tagged, have never been used on a car, and they are as authentic as you can get.  These are the ones going on the car.  OEM rules, reproductions suck. 

C2 Corvettes with F40/F41 coils loose ride height over time.  The spring steel used back then is not as robust as today which causes the coils to soften over several years.  Fortunately, our coils are NOS and have never been used. 

I love the ride height and I hope you do too.  The real test is what Jim Q thinks.

We have carpet.  Look at all these pieces.  1963 was the only year to have these many pieces of carpet.  All the other years used molded carpet.  Molded carpet was cheaper but I like this better.

The carpet pieces have been laid in place with no adhesive.  I won't glue or trim any of the carpet until the car has seen several warm days.  I want it to acclimate and flatten first.

It looks really good front and rear.

Here's another great example of why I try to buy OEM vs reproduction.  This is the courtesy light door actuator.  The one on the top is original, the one on the bottom is a reproduction.  The length is obviously wrong but look close and you"ll see the threaded fitting is too large.  This threads into the bird cage frame and won't work unless I drill and tap.  No way.  I refurbished the original.

  Check out the new stance.  It's awesome.

Thanks for watching.

Gauge Cluster Repair/Assembly

This is the speedometer.  The only difference between the speedometer and the tachometer is that the speedometer has the odometer and trip meter.  The odometer and trip meter are housed in the gray assembly shown in the lower right of this picture.  They are powered by the worm gear, center left.

 Everything was disassembled and cleaned.  Hoppies lubricant was used during reassembly.

The pointer is pushed onto a pin while turning counter clockwise.  When it hits 0 you stop turning.  It is  press fit only.  No threads, no glue.  I chose not to zero out the odometer.

The small gauges are mounted to stamped brackets, two gauges on each.  This one holds the temperature gauge on the top and the oil pressure gauge on the bottom.  Unfortunately, this bracket had been modified and the temperature gauge won't fit.  I need to fix the large hole on the top.

I traced out the outline of the hole onto sheet metal then trimmed it to fit.

Here it is clamped into position.

I positioned a copper bar on the back side then welded the plug using a series of tack welds.  The copper bar dissipates heat so fast that it doesn't melt.  It holds the molten puddle until it solidifies.

The tack welds were ground smooth.

 Then I cut the correct hole using a Dremmel.

Here is the bracket with both gauges installed.

This is the mechanism for the oil pressure gauge.  It's mechanical only, not electric.

The gauges have been cleaned, lubricated and mounted to their bracket.

The brackets and gauges are mounted to the backside of the dash cluster.

Here's the dash cluster before we started the rebuild.  I media blasted and painted the housing, buffed and polished all the original plastic lenses, repaired the tachometer, replaced all the small gauges with 1963 gauges, welded a mounting bracket for the temperature gauge, cleaned and lubricated all the mechanical components, purchased new switches then I reassembled everything.  So, how did it turn out?

I think it turned out pretty darn good. Click on the photo for a closeup.

Earlier today I posted information about the tachometer.  If you didn't see it be sure to check it out.

Thanks for watching. 

Tachometer Repair

When purchased, our tachometer didn't have a pointer/needle.  I found it later in a box with other gauges and parts.  The pointer was in horrible condition.  I purchased a new pointer but when I tried to install it there wasn't anything to attach it too.  The pin that the pointer attaches to was missing.  I found it in the old pointer.  That's it in the picture. 

This is the piece with the broken shaft.  After searching the Internet I couldn't find anyone that sells replacement parts.  It's too small to weld and glue won't work.  I decided to repair the piece by fabricating a new pin.  

Using my mini-lathe I made a new pin out of brass.

This shows the damaged shaft with broken end piece.  My fabricated brass piece is also shown.  

I decided later that the brass probably wouldn't hold up.  I made a new one out of a grade 5 bolt.  The exacto is pointing to the steel one.

I trimmed back the shaft then cut a brass tube to couple the two pieces.

5 minute epoxy was used to hold everything together.

It's hard to see but we now have a pin to attach the pointer.

It works great.

A couple days ago I posted about the windshield wiper motor.  If you missed it check it out.